(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 2/8/16) 
   By Mike Spector 

New Jersey's acting attorney general has sued Volkswagen AG over an emissions-cheating crisis linked to millions of vehicles, adding to mounting legal woes for the German car maker.

John Hoffman, the state's acting attorney general, on Friday alleged Volkswagen violated state environmental and consumer fraud laws when selling more than 17,000 diesel-powered vehicles with software capable of duping government emissions tests.

The laswuit alleges that Volkswagen "perpetrated a massive fraud upon consumers" and the company "profited greatly from its misconduct" in selling the vehicles.

Mr. Hoffman sued Volkswagen and the company's Audi and Porsche luxury brands in state court, seeking financial penalties.

"Our lawsuit alleges that Volkswagen put profit ahead of honesty, integrity, fair business practices and -- most disturbing of all -- the well-being of people living and breathing the air here in New Jersey and across the country," Mr. Hoffman said in a news release.

A spokeswoman for Volkswagen said the company's top priority remains figuring out how to fix affected vehicles in cooperation with regulators.

Volkswagen vehicle emissions in affected automobiles violated legal pollution limits, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also alleges Volkswagen profited from higher prices for diesel-powered vehicles sold under false promises of being environmentally friendly and harmed consumers who face declining resale values and potential performance declines once they have their vehicles fixed.

Mr. Hoffman's civil suit adds to similar legal actions brought by attorneys general in New Mexico, Texas and West Virginia. In addition, the U.S. Justice Department in January brought a civil suit against Volkswagen on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeking billions of dollars of damages for violating U.S. clean-air law.

Volkswagen is racing to develop recall plans for nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles across the U.S. that contain illegal defeat devices allowing automobiles to pollute more on the road than during laboratory tests.

Volkswagen has halted sales of the affected vehicles in the U.S.

Regulators earlier this year rejected Volkswagen's plan for nearly 500,000 affected vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines sold in the U.S. since 2008 as inadequate.

Regulators are currently reviewing a plan from Volkswagen for some 80,000 vehicles with 3-liter diesel engines. The problematic software is on nearly 11 million vehicles globally and Volkswagen started recalling vehicles in Europe in January.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)